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Clone Wars Adventures Emulator In Full Development!
On September 15th, 2010, a game came out called “Clone Wars Adventures.” It was an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) to be a companion to the TV show that was currently airing on Cartoon Network called “Star Wars the Clone Wars.” At the sound of a new star wars game, people’s ears perked up. There had been various games centered around the Clone Wars tv show that had come out in recent years such as Star Wars the Clone Wars Republic Heroes (2009) Star Wars the Clone Wars Jedi Alliance (2008) and Star Wars the Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels (2008). With the Clone Wars show on air, gaming companies and toy manufacturers alike scrambled to pump out products and gain as much as they could from this sudden golden era of Star Wars. But games like Clone Wars: Republic Heroes left much to be desired, and Lucasarts seemed to be building up to something much bigger. After all, with the addition of the new star wars tv show there was an enormous amount of material to mine from. When it was announced that a massive clone wars centered game was to come out, there was much excitement in the air, but many were put off when the game finally came out due to its cartoony nature, lack of content, and obvious aim at children. Despite this, the game attracted a loyal fanbase that stuck with it till the end. The game started out with a variety of mini games, which received praise from critics and players alike. Some of the highlights included Starfighter, where you could fly your ship through space on various missions seen throughout the show, Speeder Bike Racing, where you could compete against other players as you zoomed through the streets of Coruscant and beyond on your custom speeder, and Lightsaber Duels, where you could go head to head in duels against Jedi Masters and Sith Lords seen in the show such as Count Dooku and Master Yoda. The main features of the game revolved heavily around customizing your 3D avatar which you could equip with various outfits and weapons pulled straight from the Clone Wars tv show. Examples include Clone Captain Rex’s armor and Jedi Master Obi-Wan-Kenobi’s lightsaber. You bought these from the store via earning republic credits from killing enemies or playing minigames. The game developers consulted the art directors of the Clone wars tv show directly to try and replicate the art style and feel of the show perfectly. The result? A stylish virtual sandbox where players could go to play in after watching their favorite episode of the Clone Wars. The simplistic nature of the game attracted many players especially children, and a strong social fanbase developed. Over the course of the next 4 years Clone Wars Adventures grew into more than just a cheap side game to the show, but into a truly satisfying experience with additions such as the Umbara Combat Zone, Felucia combat zone, housing abilities, and battle classes. As the television show grew in quality and popularity, so did the game. In 2012 CWA reached 10 million registered players worldwide, and as a prize players received a custom golden death watch gear set. The game developers would gain access to the clone wars episodes before they released, giving them time to implement the content (such as costumes) into the game just as the episodes released. Almost every week new content would be added, and all the while the social community of the game grew more and more. However just as CWA, and the show for that matter, seemed to be reaching their peak in quality, a sudden cancellation order by Disney caused both the show and the game to be shut down. The players were hit by a wave of shock, then a feeling of denial; some believing it was merely an April fools joke. The decision seemed so abrupt, and uncalled for, that it was hard to believe. Nevertheless, on March 31st, 2014, Clone Wars Adventures shut down. The game had been a large part of many people's childhoods, and when it was abruptly stripped away they were left with a feeling of emptiness. Most players felt the game was shut down prematurely. Over the course of the next couple years several “emulators” for the game emerged but all turned out to be phony. Hope was failing, and it was looking like the players would never play their favorite game again. However, miraculously, in 2016, a real emulator was unveiled to the public. A member of the google plus CWA community named Drake Aesan, brought forth an emulator unexpectedly and everyone was blown away. It was very smooth, and the game engine it was made in was extremely similar to the original engine, "ForgeLight". The only planet that you could visit was Coruscant, but Drake made it nearly perfect. The game engine being used for the recreation was “Unity 3D.” Soon after Drake's emulator was unveiled, all of the clone wars adventures de-compressed game files were released, and a dev team started to form. At this point there are about 15 developers, and the team is growing. They are called, "The New Hope Development Team.” The objective was simple from the very start: Bring back Clone Wars Adventures. However, this would not be an easy task. Not only were the devs dealing with the challenge of implementing the CWA assets into a completely foreign engine, but also a great number of files were locked away by SOE (Now Daybreak Studios, owner of CWA). These were essentially gaps in the DNA genome, and the team had to create their own assets to fill them in. ' 'The challenges: ''' There was no set way to create an emulator, and no specific instructions to follow. No one knew if it was even possible. Everything had to be figured out via the volunteers’ own wits and skill sets, and the game had to be recreated from scratch in this new engine. Every NPC, every hill, every item, it all had to be placed in exactly the same positions they were left in when the game closed. Many of the devs had zero experience with mapping or coding prior to joining the team, and had to teach themselves. In fact, Firex who is now one of the lead mapmakers, started out with no knowledge of Unity 3D. And now he has successfully recreated the Umbara combat zone, and the Carlac combat zone! Talk about dedication! In addition to these technical challenges, there was the looming threat of SOE/Daybreak Studios or EA shutting down the project. Despite all the difficulties they faced, the team refused to give up, and pushed forward against the mounting odds, despite expecting 0 monetary gain. Quote, “we are not allowed to monetize the game at all, including patreons and GoFundMes…" "We just want to bring back the game we all love,” says one of the main coders, Gmjjr. And now, 2 years later, this small group of volunteers have made incredible progress, and along the way merged with other clone wars adventures emulator projects that were experiencing less success. Professional coders and mappers began joining and now, in 2018, you can play Clone Wars Adventures again. The current update is HERE : https://www.cwaemu.ml/p/play-now.html Installation guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAsHwDJT1Ds Each update builds upon content and quality exponentially, each one growing ever closer to a complete product. And the developers say the next update will be the biggest one to date. The project itself is estimated to be finished at mid-end 2019 for full singleplayer, and early-mid 2020 for multiplayer. That’s right, at the end of 2019, just in time for Christmas, Clone Wars Adventures will return. The community that was built years ago never left. It survived despite everything, and single handedly brought back their beloved game. There is a Discord server where you can talk one-on-one with the developers, see sneak peaks of the project, and hangout with thousands of other fans who are excited about the work being done. So why not show ‘em some support? Join here: https://discord.gg/JtA6znD The devs have big goals in mind. They’re not planning on stopping with the recreation of the game. They plan to add new content and continue developing the game long after its released, into what they believe was its full potential. Already, they have implemented a new combat zone (Geonosis) and have plans for much more… The mini-emulator project is remarkably evolving into what could possibly be one of the best Star Wars games on the market. Whether you played the game before, or never got a chance to play but are interested in what is being done, the future looks bright. Attached below is a FAQ page with more info on on the emulator: '''When will the game be done? We don't currently have a set release date, but we're working as hard as we can to get the game finished ASAP. You can expect to see more updates on the full release as we get closer to having the game ready. Where can I download the latest version of the game? You can download the game from our website! https://cwaemu.ml/p/play-now.html How can I help? Giving feedback and posting suggestions helps a lot, but if you're interested in helping more, feel free to apply for staff. https://cwaemu.ml/p/join-team.html Will Station Cash and/or membership be added to the game? Station Cash and Membership will not be added to the game. Can I use my old account? Unfortunately no, we don't have access to SOE's databases, so you'll have to start from scratch Will the game have multiplayer? Yes! While we can't guarantee a release date yet, Multiplayer is coming. Can I donate? Sorry, but we do not accept any donations. We feel it'd be highly immoral and illegal for us to take credit and/or accept money for CWA. Do you plan on expanding the game or will it stay true to the original? While we want to keep the game true to the original, we do have plans to revamp and/or add on to some areas of the game. We'll give more details on these changes as we get closer to being able to show them off. Is CWAEmu legal? As stated above, CWAEmu is completely free to play, it would be highly immoral and illegal of us to accept payment of any kind or take credit from the people who built the original. As long as we don't do either, we feel that we're in the clear. Without payments or donations, how will the game be funded? Even though we can't accept money in any form or fashion, you can rest assured that we've got it covered! Everything will be paid out of pocket by staff. How can I view any submitted suggestions? You can view all the submitted suggestions by visiting https://cwaemu.ml/p/suggestions.html Do you guys have any social media accounts I can follow? We sure do! (YouTube) https://goo.gl/n1qBLy (Twitter) https://goo.gl/LftqmM (FaceBook)https://www.facebook.com/Clone-Wars-Adventures-Emulator-2018-1007148399311888/ (Steam) https://goo.gl/CLT77Z _________________________ ' ' List of Developers: Abducted - Developer Celrek Rispwind - Developer Commanda_Panda - Developer Dawson - Developer Drake Aasen - Project Manager Euden - Developer Firex - Developer Gmjjr - Project Manager Knusprig - Developer Porg Reich - Developer Tomas M234 - Developer TX (Outflex) - Developer List of Community Staff: Wolffe - Support Team Member Core Hawk - Hype Team Member iBisho - Lead Enforcer TheTripleAce3 - Enforcer Sove - Enforcer 'A_Random_stick - Enforcer ' 'Lux Roseus - Community Manager ' ~May 22, 2019